Improvement in brake mechanism for carriages



L. WILBER.

Carriage-Brake.

Patented Jan 20, 1863.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

I LOWELL WILBER, or PUTNEY. VERMONT.

IMPROVEMENT m BRAKE M ECH'ANlSM" FOR CARRIAGES,

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 37.468, dated January20, 1363.

To all whom may concern):

Be it known that I, LOWELL WILBER, a

citizen of the United States of America, and,

a resident of Putney, in the county of Windham and State of Vermont,have invented a new and useful Improvenient'in Brake Meclr.

anism for Carriages, 85s.; and I do hereby declare the same to be fullydescribed in the following specification and represented in theaccompanying drawings, of which- Figure 1 denotes a top view, Fig. 2 abot tom view, and Fig. 3 a longitudinal and vertical section, of therunning gear of a carriage as provided with my invention.

The nature of my said invention consists in a peculiar arrangement ofmechanism with the running-gear of a carriage, whereby the brakebar 'orbrakes thereof, instead of being oper-- ated in the usual manner, (bymanual labor,)

may be perfectly controlled by the movements of the draft-animalsattached to such carriage, the same being as will be hereinafter setforth. In the drawings, A denotes the front, and A the rear, axle of acarriage, each of such axles being provided with two wheels, B B.

G is the rocker-bar, which is furnished with a king-bolt which passesdown through a hole formed vertically through the front axle in theordinary manner.

D-is'a bolster or support bar, which is arranged-over and firmly securedto the rear axle, A, and so as to stand in the same vertical planetherewith. v E E are two perches or bars which connect the said bolsterand rocker. F isthe brake-bar,,which has a rubber, o, made of iron orany other suitable material,)

arranged and firmly fixed upon each of its ends, as seen in Fig. 1.

Gr s a connection-rod or guide-bar, which, at its rear end, is firmlyjointed or connected to the' central part of the brake-bar F, while itsother end ex tends forward and plays freely through a slot formed in therocker-bar G. The said brake'bar plays freely back and forth on the saidperches E E, and is kept in place thereon by means of two staples, a a,disposed as shown in Fig. 1.

H is a coiled spring, which has one of its ends attached to the bar G,while its other end is connected to the rear part of the rockerbar 0, inmanner as seen in Figs. 2 and 3, the

object of such spring being to withdraw the vbrakes-from their wheelswhen no resistance 1 or friction of such brake is desirable.

To the front part of the slide-bar G one end of a chain or band, I), isattached. Such chain is next caused to pass over the front end of thesaid slide-bar, and from' thence is carried tacli-ed to the front partof the rocker-bar. Fromthe'nce the said chain extends downward and iscarried. under another pulley, d, (arrangedon the front part of thefront axle, as seen in the drawings,) and from thence is {carriedforward and is fastened to a connecting-rod, I, which extends alongthrough a groove, 9, formed on the under side of the pole J, as seen inFig. 2. To the, opposlte end of such connecting-rod one end of anotherband or chain, f, is attached, passes forward and around anothersheave'or pulley, e, arranged in the end of the pole J, and has itsother end carried back and secured to the'yoke L, to be attached to thedraft-animals.

Having described the construction of my its operation:

' If we suppose two horses or other draftanimals to be attached to thepole of the carriage by means of the yoke L, and the carriage to bedescending a hill or'declivity, the weight or momentum of thecarriagcwill tend to forceit forward with too greatvelocity. The horses,in endeavoring ,to prevent such unthe-yoke, which, being fastened to thechain f, draws backward the end of the chain, and, of course, advancesthe connecting rod 1, which in its turn draws forward that end of thechain b which is connected with it, and as this chain, after passingunder-the frictionpulley c, is carried vertically upward and in the topof the pulley and somedistance in advance of 'it, andis carried over theprojecting end of theslide bar G,- agiven amount of force actingalponthe yoke, as described, will cause the rear port-ion of the chain bto bebrought. into or nearly into a vertical line, which, of course, willforce forward the slidebar G and bring the. brakes against the wheelswith such power as may be desirable. As soon as the horses commence todraw forward the carriage, the spring H relieves the wheels from thebrakes,

backward-and around a pulley, c, which is atimproved brake mechanism Iwill now describe due speed of the carriage, will draw backward rear ofanother pulley, d, andfromthence over A brake apparatus constructed andapplied in my improved manner is not only very simple and little liableto get out of order,"

but is very cflicient in operation. Among other advantages it possesses,I am enabled by it to em ployastraight slide-bar, G, (rather than one ormore levcrs,) in connection with the brakes or brake-bar 1*, and tosupport such bars F and G directly upon the perch and rockerba-rs. 15ysuch 1 have no fulcrum-bolts liable to be broken or deranged under thepressure and action of the wheels. By the use of the chain b, operatingon pulleys, arranged with respect to the bar G and the rocker and frontaxle as described, I am enabled to operate mostly by direct tension ofall or most of the parts. except the slide, which is more favorable todurability and less liable to breakage or derangement of thenn I do. notclaim combining the brakes with the tongue or shafts of a carriage bysuch means as to cause the brakes through the action of the draft animalor animals to be borne against the wheels While the carriage may bedescending a hill; nor do 1 claim the mechanism (for such purpose)described in the Patents No. 7,177, dated March 12, 1850, and N0. 2,518,dated October 22,1861; but

I claimy The application or arrangement of the slidebar Gr, its springII, chain b, and pulleys o d relatively to the perches E E and therockerbar 0, the'front axle, A, and the tongue J, provided with a draftrod, 1, operated by the chain f, connected 'with the yoke or bar L, and

going around a pulley, e, as described.

LOWELL WILBER. Witnesses:

F. P. HALE, Jr., J. B. HAMPTON.

